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ENRC Switches Law Firms Amid Investigation by the SFO

Frankfort, KY -- (SBWIRE) -- 05/09/2013 -- The FTSE 100 miner, Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation, is facing a number of accusations relating to corruption. Just a few days ago, it cut its ties with the USA-based law firm Dechert that had been hired to carry out the internal investigation, following the accusations. Grover Arnett law office staff members are curious to see how this will affect the future of the mining company.

ENRC has been in talks since 2011 with the SFO (Serious Fraud Office) as a result of a number of issues with its operations in Kazakh, in addition to a second inquiry which had been made into its operations in Africa. The Serious Fraud Office has yet to initiate a full, formal investigation – instead, it has permitted ENRC to hire Dechert and report back with the findings of an internal investigation. However, now that Dechert have parted ways with ENRC, it is unclear what the Serious Fraud Office will do next.

Grover Arnett profile members read news reports in which a representative from ENRC confirmed that they were no longer being advised by Dechert LLP, and instead had chosen to retain the services of Fulcrum chambers LLP for the purposes of overseeing ENRC’s interactions with the Serious Fraud Office. The representative also added that ENRC are completely committed to a transparent, full investigation of their company’s conduct and procedures.

Dechert chose not to comment on the change of counsel; however, according to a recent story in the news, a source suggested that the self-reporting being carried out by Dechert had been delayed and because of this, the expenses being incurred by ENRC were mounting up. Dechert were said to have investigated every aspect of the company in an extremely detailed fashion, which took a great deal of time and resulted in more pressure being placed on the ENRC by the Serious Fraud Office.

Grover Arnett website users learned that ENRC submitted its Kazakhstan findings in the form of a dossier to the Serious Fraud Office this year but have yet to submit any findings in regards to their business in Africa, as the investigative work is still on-going. It is still unclear what effect this change in law firms will have on the relationship between the Serious Fraud Office and ENRC. The investigation itself does seem to have had an impact on its share prices, which have slumped by over eighty percent in the last 36 months.